Meanwhile, Commander of the Iranian navy Adm. Habibollah Sayyari called the drone flight and subsequent video “a sign of bravery”.
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Stephens said the Fifth Fleet did not view Iran’s exercise as cause for concern.
While Iran denied the claims the US released video footage of the Iranian vessels firing projectiles which purported to disprove Tehran’s denial.
“I am not in a position to confirm the authenticity of the Iranian video or if the event described in Iranian press reports is the one from January 12.”, Stephens said.
“He [Sayari] said the Americans were given warnings twice not to approach the drill area, once by a naval patrol aircraft and another time by the Navy’s Alborz destroyer”, said Tasnim, which did not identify the USA ship involved. The state-run IRNA news agency said an Iranian light submarine closely participated in the surveillance operation.
That happened on the same day Iran captured 10 U.S. Navy sailors accused of “trespassing”. “Because the UAV was unarmed and posed no risk to the carrier’s flight operations (since it wasn’t flying at the time), we determined that while the Iranian UAV’s actions posed no danger to the ship, it was however, abnormal and unprofessional”, said the Navy in a statement.
The exercises, codenamed “Velayat 94”, stretch over an area of around three million square km from east of the strategic Strait of Hormuz to the northern parts of the Indian Ocean, Xinhua reported.
It followed the lifting of many worldwide economic sanctions on January 16 after a landmark deal with the United States and five other world powers in July to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for an end to sanctions.
The incident occurred just a few days after ten USA sailors were abducted by Iran, following a technical malfunction that caused them to enter Iranian national waters near an island in the Gulf. The sailors were released within a day, though Iranian state media aired footage of the sailors’ capture, angering US politicians.
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In recent years, Iran’s navy has been increasing its presence in global waters to protect maritime routes and provide security for merchant vessels and tankers.
